The Love Lair
by Aspen-SiredBySpike
Summary: Alice decides to turn the Cullen house into a haunted mansion for Halloween, Esme and Carlisle end up in costume, Emmett gets a new pet, and Rosalie is stuck running errands for Alice all day and then there's Edward. What is with him and candle wax? EB.


**A/N: Just another little Halloween oneshot to keep you all in the autumn mood. Edward/Bella ship. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight or any of the characters.**

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**The Love Lair**

"Holy crow!" Bella exclaimed as I opened the front door, leading her into my home.

Up until now, she hadn't seen my family's place as anything more than a second home, a place to be comfortable with herself in the presence of the varying personalities that lived under this single roof. However, I had never anticipated that the shock I had initially planted into my vision of her first visit here to spring forth tonight.

Yes, the first time she came here, even if she won't admit it, she was expecting nothing less than a crypt of dank darkness. Fortunately enough, she had instead stepped into a world of light, what with the stark white interior and compelling glass wall.

Now, there was nothing short of astonishment laid out on her snowy face.

"Edward," She breathed out lightly, her voice only a little more than a whisper, "What happened?"

Immediately I knew what she was referring to: why the house she had come to know and love was giving off the impression of a dungeon. Artificial cobwebs hung in dark corners, their silky strands glistening in the faint red light. Antique coffins were placed near the walls, which, for the occasion, had been painted a deep claret color. It's not like we couldn't repaint the place in an hour anyways…

Lead chains were draped around the banister of the main stair, looking vaguely like overweight streamers, while well-cleaned animal bones were strewn across the floor, which had earlier been covered in a stony grey carpet. Eerie looking jack-o-lanterns stood on every surface; each with it's own twisted features, a set of glaring eyes, a sadistic smile, a grotesque nose.

Did my family really enjoy this holiday? Not really, mostly we liked poking fun at the fact that we were the real monsters of everyone's nightmares and no matter how human we looked, we would be able to scare more mortals on this night than any person in a costume, if we so chose.

However, this year was different. This year, Bella was going to be over. Once Alice found out, there was no deterring her from her mission to turn the clandestine Cullen house into a haunted mansion, filled with every horror imaginable.

Noticing that Bella was still looking for an answer to my question, I flicked my eyes away from the spine-chilling décor and fixed them on her cocoa orbs. "It's Halloween, and Alice happened," I replied as if it were just that simple.

Understanding my meaning, Bella smiled knowingly as walked over to my piano. Letting her fingers trail lightly over the keys, she hesitated on the upper register when hot wax was dripping down from the top of the baby grand, where a couple thick scarlet candles sat, taking their time as they burned down.

"You let her put candles on your piano?" Bella asked, her eyebrows shooting up in surprise.

"Yes, she promised that she's put them in a candelabra so she would get the wax on it…" I responded calmly, that is until I let my eyes follow the bright trail of wax over the keys, up the music stand, and over the top where the hot ruby liquid pooled at the base of the candles, slowly hardening on my piano's shiny ebony paint. "Oh my… Alice!" I screeched glaring towards the stairs.

I opened my mind, trying to see if she was up there, but I was getting nothing. She either was out, or was blocking her mind from me. Angrily, I turned towards the stairs and strode slowly over to them, deciding to be sneaky and not charge up there, just as she'd probably expect me to do. As soon as my foot hit the first step, an irritatingly loud squeak was released from below me. Scrunching my face in confusion, I put more of my weight on it, causing it to squeak again.

"What in the name of Carlisle…?" I muttered under my breath as I began trotting up and down the stairs, always switching my weight to create an array of different sounds. I had to admit, she had went all out. We never had squeaky stairs before, but this was even beyond me.

Just as I was about to continue my ascent upwards, I heard an all too familiar scream.

"Bella!" I turned around to see her flailing her arms about, letting out tiny whimpers as she spun in a circle. Glancing just above her, I realized what she was swatting at: a bat.

"Edward! Get it away from me!" She cried as she continued to thrash about. Before I could even let the thought of why there was a bat in the house race through my head, Jasper and Emmett came charging into the room with plastic pumpkins that I'd seen kids carry candy around in before.

"I got it!" Jasper called as he swung his pumpkin at the bat.

"No way! I'll get him, he is mine after all!"

"Yours?" I added as I rushed to Bella's aid as well, "What do you mean, 'yours'? It's a bat that probably flew in through the chimney!"

"Sorry Eddie," Jasper responded as he jumped onto my piano bench to reach a better height, "You're wrong."

"What do you mean I'm wrong?"

"He is Emmett's." Jasper replied idly.

"Yeah, I brought him home yesterday." Emmett piped up. "His name's Count Batula."

"I don't care what his name is, could you please get him away from me?" Bella continued to cringe.

"I can't believe Esme's actually letting you keep that thing." I said, taking another swipe at the creature.

"Keep what?" Esme's delicate voice reverberated throughout the house.

"Gotcha!" Emmett exclaimed as he grabbed the bat and stuffed him in his pumpkin, pushing Count Batula's head back down when he popped it out to see.

"Nothing Esme!" Jasper called back as he chased Emmett out the front door, both of them almost colliding with Rosalie ash she strolled in, her arms pull of grocery bags.

"Hey, watch it!" She spat as she placed the bad on a nearby coffee table that was plastered in moss and fake insect.

"Are you alright?" I asked Bella as I moved over to her, attempting to make her shaking stop.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." She said, regaining her sense of calm. I chuckled lightly at the fact that she could get so riled up over the presence of one measly bat but wasn't even the slightest bit scared at being in a house full of vampires.

"Why on earth does she need this stuff anyways?" Rosalie said offhandedly as she dug through the bags.

"Need what stuff?" Carlisle wondered as she stomped down the stairs, looking absolutely comical in a Frankenstein costume. Bella and Rosalie burst out laughing on the spot while I attempted to keep my grin bottled up.

"Carlisle, what on earth are you wearing?" Rosalie managed to get out as she stared at the bolts that were sticking out of his neck.

"His costume." Esme replied as she joined him on the stairs, her appearance as charming as ever while she sported a tattered old wedding gown.

"And let me guess, you're the Bride of Frankenstein, right?" Rosalie continued, finally containing herself to just giggling.

"How did you guess?" Esme smirked as she reached up to pat her hair which was sticking straight up, now donning streaks of white. Out of all of the people to be my immortal parents, I'm was so glad it was Esme and Carlisle.

"Oh, is that the candy? We're going to need to set up soon, the kids will be arriving anytime now." Carlisle asked as he glanced at the bags on the coffee table.

"Those? Oh no, it's in the kitchen with the last load. I swear, if Alice asks me to run any more errands for her today, I'm going to freak." Rosalie replied.

"Speaking of Alice, where is she?" I questioned, not failing to forget what she had done to my piano.

"Upstairs finishing the decorating." Esme stated.

"There's more?" Bella asked, her mouth dropping open.

"Excuse me. Coming through." Alice cried as she zoomed down the stairs, grabbed the bags, and disappeared again without another word.

"What the- wait a minute… Did she just…?" I stuttered, staring after my pixie-like sister.

"Let's just never mind her. Let her have her fun." Bella declared as she took my hand gently, obviously seeing that I was about to charge after her in a fit of rage.

Silently agreeing, I inclined my head towards my parents and Rosalie before gliding up the stairs with Bella at my side. She giggled slightly at the noises the stairs made but went quiet again when she gazed down the hall. It was done up in much the same fashion as the downstairs was. The only difference I could see was that the hall was done up in black lights instead of the blood red ones.

Scooting a little closer to my side, Bella released my hand and wrapped her arms around me. Grinning, I wrapped my arm around her waist as we reached the door to my room. As soon as I opened it, we were bathed in the familiar ruby light from the bottom floor. Seconds later, a skeleton fell from somewhere up above and hung in a noose in the doorway.

"Ahhh!" Bella screamed at my side, jumping behind me to shield her from the terror that was a plastic skeleton. Although, upon noticing that a now familiar candle wax was seeping over the many surfaces of my room including my floor, my CD shelves, and most importantly my couch, I realized that my room had been made over into another terror scene, I flipped. Just before I could react, I let my eyes slide over to the glass wall, which now donned what appeared o be blood dripping down it, spelling out 'The Love Lair'.

Sucking in a deep breath, I turned around to plug Bella's ears; there was no way she was going to be able to stand this decibel level…

"_ALICE!_"


End file.
